USA > Indiana > A History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922 > Part 41
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W. Randolph Hurst, M. D. An excellent technical training, superimposed upon natural inclination and inherent talent, has made Dr. W. Randolph Hurst, of Evansville, one of the leading surgeons and physicians of Vanderburgh county. His career, while a short one, has been one that has given him ripened experience and a large fund of human sympathy, both of which have added to his capacity for a career of marked usefulness. Doctor Hurst was born at Hutsonville,
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Crawford county, Illinois, November 11, 1885, and is a son of Lucius Caswell and Minnie E. (Patterson) Hurst, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of the state of Maine. Lucius C. Hurst was for many years a merchant at Hutsonville, where he carried on a successful business and where he was one of his community's highly respected citizens. His death occurred in 1913, when he was fifty-nine years of age. Mrs. Hurst survives her husband at the age of sixty- one years. They were the parents of two sons: Roscoe P., of- Port- land, Oregon, who is engaged in practising law ; and Dr. W. Randolph. W. Randolph Hurst attended the graded and high schools of Hutson- ville, and was graduated from the latter as a member of the class of 1901. He then enrolled as a student at Union Christian College, from which he was graduated in 1906 with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and this course was followed by medical study at the University of Chicago and Rush Medical College, Chicago. After receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine, in 1912, he entered Cook County Hos- pital, Chicago's great public institution of charity, and spent two years as surgeon. In 1914, he located at Evansville, and began the practice of his calling, which he followed until 1918. He then went to Camp Greenleaf, as a member of the United States Army Medical Corps, and while at the Georgia cantonment took a post-graduate course in surgery. He was given a lieutenant's commission and assigned to Evacuation Hospital No. 57, where he was stationed until the close of the war, when he received his honorable discharge. He returned then to Evansville, where he is now in the enjoyment of a large and lucrative professional business. He belongs to the Vanderburgh County Medical Society, the Indiana Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Lancet Club, and is a member of the surgical staffs of the Walker, St. Mary's and Deaconess Hospitals. As a fraternalist he holds membership in the Masons and the Elks, and in addition belongs to the Country Club. November 11, 1914, Doctor Hurst was united in marriage with Gertrude, daughter of Major Rosencranz, of Evansville, a sketch of whose career will be found else- where in this work, and to this union there have been born two chil- dren : Alberta, born in 1916; and Betsy, born in 1918.
Miss Katherine M. Imbusch. During a period of twenty-seven years, the people of the city of Evansville have become familiar with the courteous manner, accommodating treatment and highly efficient work of Miss Katherine M. Imbusch, who has been identified with the Willard Library for this long space of time and now occupies the well-earned post of librarian. This office is by no means a sinecure, as it entails not only the possession of comprehensive knowledge per- taining to the library and the works contained therein, but also of infor- mation regarding a wide range of subjects, and a patience equal to handling all manner of situations. Miss Imbusch was born at Evans- ville and is a daughter of Henry and Bernardina Imbusch, who came from Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1860, to Evansville, where Mr. Imbusch engaged in the furniture business under the name of Imbusch, Bloomer & Hoing Furniture Company, conducting a wholesale and retail busi-
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ness on Main Street. Mr. Imbusch's activities at Evansville were short-lived, as he died after being in this city for only six years, in 1867. He was a strong Democrat and a man of integrity, and his early death cut short a promising career. His widow, who survives him as a resident of Evansville, was born September 26, 1843. They were the parents of two children: Katherine M. and Henry, the latter of whom died in 1917. Miss Katherine M. Imbusch was but a child when her father died, but her mother managed to see that she secured a good practical education. She first entered the service of the Willard Library in 1895, and acted in various capacities until November, 1921, when she was appointed librarian. Her long connection with the insti- tution has made her familiar with every department, and as she is conscientious in the discharge of her duties her services are of great value to the reading public of Evansville, the patrons of the Library also benefitting by her courteous and gracious treatment. The Willard Library was the gift to the city of Evansville of the Hon. Willard Car- penter. October 26, 1876, in pursuance of a plan matured by him through several years, he conveyed to the trustees selected by himself property of the value of more than $200,000, perpetually to be held and used for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a public library at Evansville, to include both a reference and a circulating library, with a further provision for an art gallery, should the endowment, in time, become sufficient for the latter purpose. With entire unselfish- ness he devoted the remainder of his life to the care of the trust he had created, and to the erection of the library building, giving his val- uable services as freely as he had given his property. His death, in November, 1883, occurred a few months too soon for him to see the realization of his long-cherished purpose. the opening of the institu- tin to which he had given his wealth and his labors. The library was opened formally in April, 1884. The common council of the city at that time, with generous appreciation of the gift of Mr. Carpenter, turned over to the trustees of the Library the Public Library which had grown out of the old Mercantile Library Association, an organization founded by a number of public-spirited citizens in 1855. Since its opening the Willard Library has been at the service of the people of Evansville with no cost to them or to the city. The payment of the debt con- tracted in erecting the building and improving the grounds, and the heavy cost of replacing the books worn out repeatedly by the unex- pectedly large use of them made by Evansville citizens, have pre- vented the trustees from increasing the number of books as fast or as largely as they hoped to do. Nevertheless, the Library now has more than 60,000 volumes on its shelves. In addition to the books for circulation, there are many valuable books kept only for reference, and a reading room is maintained in which all the best periodicals of the day can be found.
Gardner C. Johnson, M. D. It is not so many years ago that tuberculosis was considered an incurable disease, and those who con- tracted the "great white plague" were given up as irrevocably lost. Science as evolved in the medical laboratory had not yet discovered a
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successful means of combating the dread ravages of phthisis, and the mere mention of the name of the disease served to fill the ordinary indi- vidual with horror and fear. Little can withstand, however, the for- ward advance of the medical profession, and after many years of research, investigation, tests and experiments, the profession an- nounced that it had found a way to fight the tubercle bacilli. From that time to the present wonderful advancement has been made and today tuberculosis, when not in its too-far advanced stages, is entirely curable, and under ordinary conditions, not overly dangerous when the case is placed in the hands of the skilled physician or specialist. Throughout his career, Dr. Gardner C. Johnson, of Evansville, has made a study of this disease, and since 1908 has been a member of the staff of the Vanderburgh Anti-Tuberculosis Society. At the present he is superintendent of the Boehne camp, a movement for the cure of persons afflicted with this malady and confines his practice to acting as a specialist in the treatment of this disease. Doctor Johnson was born in Dodge county, Wisconsin, January 7, 1872, near Columbus, a son of George W. and Julia (Flynn) Johnson. His paternal grand- father, Charles Johnson, was of a family of eighteen children. He came from England to the United States with the sum of $3,500, then considered a small fortune, and became a pioneer farmer of Wisconsin, where he took up and partially developed a large tract of land, residing in that state until his death at the age of eighty-nine years. He was the father of seven children. The maternal grandfather of Doctor Johnson was an Irish gentleman who came to this country when still a young married man, and located in Wisconsin, where he passed the rest of his life, dying at the age of fifty years. He was the father of four sons and four daughters, of whom Julia was three years of age when brought to the United States. When still a youth George W. Johnson accompanied his parents to Dodge county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in farming until the outbreak of the Civil war, at which time he enlisted in the Union army and subsequently fought in the campaigns of the army of the Potomac. He then returned to Dodge county, where he married, settled down to an agricultural life and continued to till the soil until his death at the age of sixty-seven years, in 1907. Mrs. Johnson, who was also a child when taken by her parents to Dodge county, still survives at the age of seventy-six years. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. George W. Johnson: Dr. Arthur H., a physician of Portland, Oregon; Dr. Gardner C .; an un- married daughter who is engaged in teaching school at Waukegan, Illinois ; Mrs. Charles Geisert, of Chicago, Illinois ; Mrs. Gamidge, of Columbus, Wisconsin; Mrs. William Brunning, of Las Vegas, New Mexico; and Thomas, deceased. Gardner C. Johnson attended the schools of Columbus, Wisconsin, where he was graduated from the high school in 1893, and after some further preparation became a student of the medical department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, being graduated in 1901 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. For one year thereafter he acted as assistant to the surgeon for the United States Steel Corporation, at Cleveland, Ohio, and then
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engaged in general practice at Lorain, Ohio, where, however, he re- mained only five months. His next location was Liverpool, Ohio, where he was engaged in city and country practice for four and one- half years, and in 1907, he came to Evansville and succeeded to the practice of Dr. Clarence Kelsay, in the Courier Building. He con- tinued to follow a general practice until 1918, when he gave his ser- vices to the United States during the World war. In the meantime, in 1908, he had joined the staff and enlisted his abilities in the cause of the Vanderburgh Anti-Tuberculosis Society, and at that time com- menced to take a keen interest in the cure of tuberculosis and in the Boehne Camp movement. He became president of the staff in clinical work, and in 1915, became superintendent of the camp, a position which he retained until 1918, August 1 of which year he received a captain's commission and entered the United States service at the Base Hospital at Camp Custer, Michigan. There he remained until receiving his honorable discharge April 4, 1919, when he resumed his duties as superintendent of the Boehne Camp and took up practice at Evans- ville, in the American Trust Building, as a specialist in the cure of tuberculosis. He is a member of the staffs of St. Mary's and Deaconess Hospitals, and holds membership in the Lancet Club and the various organizations of his profession, in addition to which he is a Mason: and a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, the Country Club, the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce. His religious con- nection is with the Walnut Street Presbyterian Church and as a voter he maintains an independent stand. September 5, 1901, Doctor John- son married Miss Martha E. Coppock, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, who died without issue. June 25, 1906, Doctor Johnson married Miss Agnes G. Niehoff, of Horicon, Wisconsin.
Clarence B. Kahn. Founded more than half a century ago, the business now bearing the name of S. Kahn's Sons, Inc., is one of the oldest-established and most reliable grocery enterprises of Evansville. Several generations of the Kahn family have contributed to it their best efforts and energies, and at the present time the concern is under the directorship of Clarence B. Kahn, president, who is a grandson of the founder of the business. Mr. Kahn was born in Evansville, October 4, 1885, and is a son of Henry S. and Rosa (Rosenbaum) Kahn. His father, who was born at Paradise, Kentucky, in 1858, received a public school education, and at the age of eighteen years started working for the old Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad under the late D. J. Mackey, remaining with the road for four years. When twenty-two years of age, in 1880, he joined his father, Solomon Kahn in the wholesale grocery business. This had been started in 1871 under the style of Heiman & Kahn, but when Mr. Henry S. Kahn joined his father the name was changed to S. Kahn & Son. In 1892 the con- cern was incorporated under the name of S. Kahn's Sons, and has continued as such to the present, although Henry S. Kahn died in 1915. He was a capable and honorable business man and one who was held in the highest esteem everywhere. Mrs. Kahn, who was born at Mount Vernon, Indiana, July 2, 1865, passed away in 1917.
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Clarence B. Kahn attended the graded and high schools of Evansville, and following his graduation from the latter entered Purdue Univer- sity where he pursued an academic course. Immediately upon the completion of his educational training, he entered the business of his father, becoming a traveling salesman for the concern. He remained in this capacity until 1910, when he was brought in from the road to become city salesman, and at the time of his father's death, in 1915, he assumed the post of manager. Since then he has been elected to the presidency, in which position he has governed the affairs of the con- cern with marked ability and sound judgment. This wholesale groc- ery enterprise handles a complete line of all kinds of staple and fancy groceries and grocery equipment, its field being the territory within a radius of 100 miles of Evansville, where its goods find a ready market. Its volume of business has increased rapidly within the past few years and is continuing to do so at the present, now doing three times the business that the firm had done prior to 1915. In 1913, Mr. Kahn, married Delia, daughter of Adolph Bitterman, of Evansville, and to this union one daughter has been born, Margery Florence.
Isidor Kahn. Evansville contains quite a representation of the younger professional element, among whom are some whose anteced- ents give ample evidence that a substantial and prosperous career awaits them in the future. One of the most enterprising and capable of these, and one to whom success in life seems fully assured by reason of his exceptional progress while still in early manhood, is Isidor Kahn, at present the possessor of a splendid legal practice. Mr. Kahn was born at Madisonville, Kentucky, February 28, 1887, and is a son of Nathan and Fanny (Wolf) Kahn. His father, a native of Alsace, Germany, came to the United States in young manhood, and by industry and good business judgment has carved out a successful mercantile career at Evansville, where he is highly esteemed, as is also his worthy wife, who is a native of Frankfort-am-Main, Germany. Isidor Kahn attended the grade school at Madisonville, Kentucky, and after coming to Evansville, pursued a course in the high school here. He then started to work in the offices of the Sargeant Glass Company, a concern with which he remained until 1905, then entering the law department of the University of Indiana. He received his degree of Bachelor of Law from that institution as a member of the class of 1908, and immediately started practice at Evansville, where he has risen to a high place in his profession and in the confidence of the community. He has been identified with much of the important litiga- tion that has come before the courts in recent years, and in every in- stance has shown his right to be numbered among Evansville's thor- ough, learned and reliable legists. Mr. Kahn has seen official service, having acted as county attorney of Vanderburgh county during 1919, 1920 and 1921, during which period he discharged the duties of his office in an efficient and conscientious manner. Politically, he ad- heres to the principles of the Republican party. Mr. Kahn belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, the Fraternal Order of Eagles
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and the Rotary Club, in all of which he has numerous friends. He holds membership in the Jewish church. February 15, 1911, Mr. Kahn was united in marriage with Constance, daughter of Moses and Celia (Hirsch) Kahn, residents of Bloomington, Indiana, where Mrs. Kahn was born, and to this union there have been born two children: Con- stance and Robert, both of whom are attending school.
Henry W. Kamman. One of the strong and forceful citizens of Evansville, Henry W. Kamman, has always used his fine legal talents in the furtherance of what he has conceived to be for the best interests of the city, merging the two characters of citizen and lawyer into a high personal combination which, despite differences of intellectual opinion, has been generally recognized as an example well worthy of emulation. Mr. Kamman was born at Holland, Dubois county, In- diana, April 13, 1874, and is a son of Henry W. and Sophia (Meyer) Kamman. Henry W. Kamman, the elder, was born in Osnabruck, Germany, August 15, 1839, and when he was five years of age his parents decided to immigrate to the United States in order to secure better opportunities for their children. While still at sea the mother suddenly became ill and died within a short time. The little party landed at New Orleans, whence they made their way by river steamer to Cincinnati, and finally located in Jackson county, Indiana, where the grandfather engaged in the manufacture of wooden shoes, an enterprise in which he became prosperous. In 1858 he brought the family to Dubois county, Indiana, where he assisted in founding the town of Holland. There Henry W. Kamman, Sr., became identified with the sawmill business, in which he was engaged until 1876, at that time buying a farm and turning his attention to agricultural operations, in which he continued to be engaged during the remainder of his life. He was a man of high principles and strict integrity, and his death, which occurred June 29, 1904, at the age of sixty-five years, cost his community one of its reliable and highly respected citizens. The boyhood of Henry W. Kamman, the younger, was passed in an agricultural atmosphere and his early education was acquired in the schools of the rural district, while in the meantime he assisted his father in the work of the home farm. He entered upon his independ- ent career in the guise of a district school teacher, a vocation to which he contributed his energies during a period of five years. In the meantime he had decided to enter the profession of law, and when he left the schoolroom as an instructor he became a student of the law department, Indiana University, at Bloomington, from which he was duly graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Law, as a member of the class of 1900. Admitted to the state and federal courts, he at once commenced practice at Evansville, where he has since built up a large and representative following. He is popular among his col- leagues, as he is also in several fraternities and leading clubs. Mr. Kamman is a Republican and has taken more than a passive interest in local public affairs. In 1921, he was elected to the State Legislature, in which body he served his constituents faithfully and well. His religious connection is with the Lutheran church. November 13, 1901,
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Mr. Kamman was united in marriage with Miss Ricke Koch, and to this union were born two children: Henry T. and Marie, who are at- tending public school.
Henry J. Karges. Unlike many of his associates in the busi- ness world of Evansville, Henry J. Karges has devoted practically his entire career to the development and success of a single enterprise, for while he now has various other connections, his main interest has always centered in the Indiana Stove Works, with which concern he has been identified for practically forty years, and of which he is president. In addition to being a capable and successful business man, he is also a public-spirited citizen, and his work as president of the Board of Public Safety of Evansville during the past ten years has been of a quality that has evidenced high executive capacity. Mr. Karges was born at Evansville, September 8, 1866, and is a son of Henry J. and Caroline (Gleichman) Karges. Henry J. Karges, the elder, was born in 1831, in Germany, and as a lad of fourteen years was brought to the United States by an uncle and settled at Evans- ville. Here the lad grew to manhood and later operated the Me- chanics Hotel, on High Street, until 1867, in which year he moved to Blue Grass, Iowa, and there conducted a general merchandise business for several years. On his return to Evansville he engaged in the grocery business, with which he was connected until his death in 1896. Mrs. Karges was born June 1, 1840, in Vanderburgh county, the daughter of a pioneer of the county, and died April 3, 1900. Henry J. Karges, the younger, was about one year old when taken by his parents to Blue Grass, Iowa, and there received his education in the public schools. At the age of fifteen years he became associated with his father in the mercantile business, and continued therein until his return to Evansville, and on August 20, 1884, he became identified with the Indiana Stove Works, which had been in operation in this city for three years previous to that time, and from the post of office boy he was rapidly advanced until 1893, when he was elected secretary. Later he also assumed the duties of treasurer, then became vice-presi- dent of the company, and in 1920 was made president, which office he retains. Much of the success of this concern has been due to his ability and energy, and he is recognized as one of the capable and at all times progressive men of his city. Mr. Karges is a director of the West Side Bank and the Globe-Bosse-World Furniture Company, secretary and a director of the Metal Furniture Company, and treasurer and a director of the Vendome Hotel. A Democrat in politics, he is not a politician, but as a good citizen of modern tendencies and enlightened views has served in the capacity of president of the Board of Public Safety since January, 1914. February 20, 1890, Mr. Karges was united in marriage with Edith Z., daughter of Lewis and Martha (Bell) Canter, of Evansville; and to this union there have been born six children: Gilbert H., Frederick E .; Edith L., who is deceased : Lydia G., the wife of Carl P. Goad; Lewis J. and Margaret O., all of Evansville.
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Louise Kehr, secretary and treasurer of the C. Kanzler & Son Company, Contractors, Incorporated, is one of the efficient members of her sex whose success in business proves her ability, and her con- nection with her present company, the appreciation she commands from her associates. She was born at Madisonville, Kentucky, De- cember 11, 1880, and came to Evansville when a child. While she did not attend the public schools beyond the eighth grade, she took a thorough commercial course at the Spencerian Business College of Evansville, and is a very capable young woman. For fourteen years she was with the Evansville Leather Belting Company as bookkeeper, and since 1917 has been connected with her present company. When the business was incorporated she was made secretary and treasurer, and she is a stockholder in it, is on its directorate, and is secretary and treasurer of the Mechanics Planing Mill, her connection with the latter dating from January, 1921. Miss Kehr is a member of the Evansville Chamber of Commerce, and of the Woman's Rotary Club, and she takes an intelligent interest in all of the progressive move- ments of her home city. The success which has attended her efforts has not been secured without hard work and faithful application, but she feels that the sacrifices she has made have been justified in the ad- vance she has secured, and her example ought to stimulate others of her sex to similar effort. Miss Kehr is a daughter of solid, substantial people, formerly very well known at Evansville where her father, George Fred Kehr was for many years engaged in a butchering busi- ness. He was a native of Germany, and his wife, Adelaide (Elslelder) Kehr, was a native of Alsace-Lorraine, France. He died in 1920, aged eighty-four years, and she in 1914, aged seventy-four years.
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